Local_file throws "Incorrect File Path" for correct file paths

Configuration
1
  • Core 2024.11.1
  • Supervisor 2024.11.2
  • Operating System 13.2
  • Frontend 20241106.2

My doorbell camera stores snapshots in the below locations (/config/www/pub/doorbell/*.jpg).

I had some trouble finding the correct syntax for the ‘allowlist_external_dirs’ setting - I could not find a working example in the docs.

Now, HA throws a Repair for each camera entry: “Incorrect File Path” even though the files are really in that directory, and all path components are mode 755 so they are readable.

“While trying to import your configuration the provided file path config_www_pub_doorbell_visitor_snapshot_jpg could not be read.
Please update your configuration to a correct file path and restart to fix this issue.”

This same Repair is shown for each camera (image filename different of course).

Any suggestions on how to debug this further? Thanks!

# Local file access
homeassistant:
  allowlist_external_dirs:
    - /config/www/pub/doorbell/

camera:
  - platform: local_file
    name: voordeur_snapshot_visitor
    file_path: /config/www/pub/doorbell/visitor-snapshot.jpg
  - platform: local_file
    name: voordeur_snapshot_person
    file_path: /config/www/pub/doorbell/person-snapshot.jpg
  - platform: local_file
    name: voordeur_snapshot_motion
    file_path: /config/www/pub/doorbell/motion-snapshot.jpg
2

Assuming you restarted Home Assistant after creating the www folder, access it like this:

camera:
  - platform: local_file
    name: voordeur_snapshot_visitor
    file_path: /local/pub/doorbell/visitor-snapshot.jpg

i.e. /local/ is equivalent to /config/www/

3

Thank you Tom. I updated my configuration.yaml as follows, but the Repairs are still there:

# Local file access
homeassistant:
  allowlist_external_dirs:
    - /config/www/pub/doorbell/

camera:
  - platform: local_file
    name: voordeur_snapshot_visitor
    file_path: /local/pub/doorbell/visitor-snapshot.jpg

The Repairs look like this (3 similar Repairs, file path is different for each camera)

Incorrect file path

Warning ⸱ Reported by local_file

This stops working in version 2025.5.0. Please address before upgrading.

While trying to import your configuration the provided file path local_pub_doorbell_visitor_snapshot_jpg could not be read.
Please update your configuration to a correct file path and restart to fix this issue.

4

Not answering your question… I’m quite confused about local vs media vs config/www directories too. I’m hesistant to upgrade to HA 2024.11.1 with local_file integration because of that.

I have been using /media folder rather than /config/www :

Maybe that helps your issue?

(I am on HA docker, and /media directory is mapped to my /home/pi/media directory, as set in my docker compose.yml file)